- Joined
- May 30, 2007
- Messages
- 2,559
- Reaction score
- 464
My exam is on May 17. I'm debating how to structure the last few days.
Here's a quick summary of what I've done so far:
Sometime in February - Scored 192 on UWSA1
All of March to mid-April - Thoroughly went through First Aid and concurrently watched the relevant Pathoma lectures. Also went through UW (started around 54%) for most of March and Kaplan for most of April (started around 62%).
Around March 31 - scored 230 on UWSA2
Around April 7 - scored 221 on NBME 7
April 16 - scored 228 on NBME 11. At this point, I was around 65% on Qbank questions.
April 17 - started DIT. This took up almost all of my time, but I also squeezed in 25-50 daily UW/Kaplan questions. My average Qbank scores increased to about 75-80% by the end of the DIT course.
Around the halfway point of the DIT course, I scored 247 on NBME 12. I'm pretty sure this was a fluke.
Today - just finished DIT. I definitely feel much more prepared, but it's pretty clear to me that I'd benefit from one final review of everything. I'll take the DIT predictive exam tomorrow (May 6) and I'll post my results afterwards. I'll probably spend the rest of the day reviewing the questions/answers in the 500-page DIT study guide. The next day, I'll probably take a Kaplan 7-hour sim exam to identify my weak areas. That leaves me with 8 full study days if I want to take the last day off before the test.
So... at this point, I'm considering three options:
1. Spend the last few days going through FA and the DIT workbook with emphasis on my weakest areas based on the sim exam. I'd probably supplement FA with Pathoma where necessary.
Pros - I'd know that I covered everything
Cons - It's not particularly structured, so I might fall behind schedule or get distracted (which is definitely a tendency of mine)
2. Use the Kaplan HY program to cover all of FA in eight days (50 hours at 1.5x speed = ~5 hours/day) with extra focus on my weak areas, and possibly supplement from Pathoma where necessary.
Pros - I know that I can cover 5 hours a day of lectures (since I did it with DIT), so I won't fall behind schedule.
It'll force me to look again at topics that I think I know well, just in case I don't actually know them as well as I think I do.
Cons - I might spend too much time going through superficial review instead of focusing on things I don't know yet.
3. Go through all of DIT again.
Pros - I know that DIT helped me a LOT the first time, so maybe a second review will help solidify everything.
Cons - Already done it once.
Or some combination of those things.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Here's a quick summary of what I've done so far:
Sometime in February - Scored 192 on UWSA1
All of March to mid-April - Thoroughly went through First Aid and concurrently watched the relevant Pathoma lectures. Also went through UW (started around 54%) for most of March and Kaplan for most of April (started around 62%).
Around March 31 - scored 230 on UWSA2
Around April 7 - scored 221 on NBME 7
April 16 - scored 228 on NBME 11. At this point, I was around 65% on Qbank questions.
April 17 - started DIT. This took up almost all of my time, but I also squeezed in 25-50 daily UW/Kaplan questions. My average Qbank scores increased to about 75-80% by the end of the DIT course.
Around the halfway point of the DIT course, I scored 247 on NBME 12. I'm pretty sure this was a fluke.
Today - just finished DIT. I definitely feel much more prepared, but it's pretty clear to me that I'd benefit from one final review of everything. I'll take the DIT predictive exam tomorrow (May 6) and I'll post my results afterwards. I'll probably spend the rest of the day reviewing the questions/answers in the 500-page DIT study guide. The next day, I'll probably take a Kaplan 7-hour sim exam to identify my weak areas. That leaves me with 8 full study days if I want to take the last day off before the test.
So... at this point, I'm considering three options:
1. Spend the last few days going through FA and the DIT workbook with emphasis on my weakest areas based on the sim exam. I'd probably supplement FA with Pathoma where necessary.
Pros - I'd know that I covered everything
Cons - It's not particularly structured, so I might fall behind schedule or get distracted (which is definitely a tendency of mine)
2. Use the Kaplan HY program to cover all of FA in eight days (50 hours at 1.5x speed = ~5 hours/day) with extra focus on my weak areas, and possibly supplement from Pathoma where necessary.
Pros - I know that I can cover 5 hours a day of lectures (since I did it with DIT), so I won't fall behind schedule.
It'll force me to look again at topics that I think I know well, just in case I don't actually know them as well as I think I do.
Cons - I might spend too much time going through superficial review instead of focusing on things I don't know yet.
3. Go through all of DIT again.
Pros - I know that DIT helped me a LOT the first time, so maybe a second review will help solidify everything.
Cons - Already done it once.
Or some combination of those things.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!